


The End of the World

by romana2525



Series: Five Times Jane Was Maura's Plus One [5]
Category: Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-10
Updated: 2011-06-10
Packaged: 2017-10-20 07:10:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/210087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romana2525/pseuds/romana2525
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the end of the world as we know it, and desperate times call for desperate measures to save the ones you love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The End of the World

**Author's Note:**

> TITLE: The End of the World  
> PART: 1/1  
> SERIES: Five Times Jane Was Maura's Plus One, Part 5/5  
> AUTHOR: romana2525@gmail.com  
> FANDOM: Rizzoli & Isles  
> PAIRING: Jane/Maura (pre-slash)  
> RATING: PG  
> SPOILERS: All of first season  
> THANKS: Big thanks to anthro06 for beta reading. All mistakes are mine, all mine.  
> DISCLAIMER: I don’t own them. They belong to Tess Gerritsen and TNT.  
> SUMMARY: It's the end of the world as we know it, and desperate times call for desperate measures to save the ones you love.  
> COMMENT1: Fifth in a series. My reading list this year has been full of apocalyptic fiction. It seemed only fitting to briefly explore that scenario with my favorite pair.  
> COMMENT2: These are all loosely-connected one-shots. They are all more or less stand alone stories, but it is best to read them in order. Comments and constructive criticisms are always appreciated.

The first thing Jane became aware of, as consciousness slowly returned, was that her head felt like it was going to explode.  She must've moaned, because she felt someone move up beside her and a soft hand brush the hair back from her forehead.

"I turned you on your side," a familiar voice said.  "In case you vomited." The hand continued to pet her gently, as Jane struggled to figure out exactly what had happened.  Had she had too much to drink last night at the Robber?  But, even if she had, that didn't explain why she was lying on a hard floor, even if someone, probably Maura, had tucked something soft beneath her head.

"I feel like I'm going to die," Jane rasped, her throat horribly dry.

Maura didn't say anything, and Jane took the time to gather her strength and get her bearings.  She pushed herself up onto one arm, and her stomach rolled horribly, forcing her back down.  She breathed deeply in an effort not to throw up.   

Reality crashed back over her in a wave.  She hadn't been drinking at the Robber last night.  There was no Robber to drink at anymore.  There wasn't much of anything anymore and there hadn't been for months.  

And Frankie…

"What happened?" she croaked.  She hoped they weren't in deep, serious trouble, because Jane was pretty sure she did not have the strength to do much about it right now.  But when Maura didn't answer her questions for several minutes, Jane rolled over and looked up at her.   

Maura was crying.

That in and of itself wasn't actually cause for concern, Jane thought.  Maura had never uttered a word of complaint about being dirty, hungry, cold, and constantly terrified, though Jane often heard her crying quietly, late at night, when she thought everyone else was asleep or distracted by guard duty.  Jane had managed to find a safe haven for them all, had gotten her parents, Frankie, and Maura safely there, along with a few precious mementos, family photo albums mostly.  All Maura had been left with were the designer clothes on her back. 

Each day since, Maura grew more and more silent.  Jane knew she was losing Maura, and she didn't know what to do about it.

But being here, wherever here was, and Maura crying was definitely cause for alarm.  Local mob bosses had been quick to set up shop throughout the city, trafficking in all manner of goods.  It was no secret that one of the commodities sought after was women.  Jane didn't need to be a detective to know why women were being rounded up, but she had no intention of being anyone’s slave.  She forced herself to sit up, and willed herself not to pass out as her vision faded for a moment.

"Where are we?" she asked, trying to keep the note of panic out of her voice and failing miserably.  She shifted over, so that she was sitting next to Maura, the warmth of her arm where it touched her own comforting.   

 Jane looked around at what looked like a warehouse, and her feeling of dread grew even stronger. There were small holding cages, with cartons and boxes secured with heavy straps inside them, lining a narrow hallway.  The two of them sat in a tiny, empty storage bay lit by a single florescent bulb.  Whoever had them had electricity, which meant they were probably one of the larger operations in Boston. 

This was bad.

"We're in a plane," Maura said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.  It was then that Jane realized the humming in her ears wasn't from whatever knocked her out.  

"What?" she exclaimed, trying to rise.  Maura caught her arm and tugged her down, and Jane was weak enough that she didn't put up much fight.  "Maura, tell me what happened." They needed to start figuring out how to get out of this mess and back to Boston, quick.

"It's not what you think, Jane," Maura said, still clutching her arm.  "We're not in any danger. Just the opposite, actually."

"I don't understand," Jane said.  God, her head hurt.

"I know.  I've been sitting here waiting for you to wake up, trying to figure out how I was going to explain all this to you."

"Explain what, Maura?" Jane was beginning to lose patience.

“Doyle’s been leaving us food, did you know that?” Maura asked.  It wasn’t what Jane was expecting.

“Yeah, I knew, but what does that have to do with anything?”  She didn’t think Doyle would turn his own daughter over to sex slave traders.  When the boxes of food had started showing up outside their door, Jane had immediately understood who they were from.  She hadn’t been sure, until now, that Maura had guessed as well.  It had been Doyle who’d brought Frankie’s body back to them, too, Jane was sure.

“About ten days after the disaster, he came while I was on guard duty.”

Jane frowned.  She liked to think she was always aware of what was going on around them, but she’d had no idea.  “You left with him?” she asked, appalled that Maura would do that, would go with her biological father and leave them all unguarded.

“He left some men to watch over you.  He just wanted to talk.  I…”  Maura’s voice trailed off.  “Don’t be mad,” she said.

Jane sighed, and tried to clamp down on the sudden spike of fear that had overtaken her.  She obviously needed to watch over her family more carefully from now on.  “I’m not mad, Maura.  Just tell me where we are.”

“I’m getting to that.”

“OK, so you went with him.  Why?  I thought you didn’t want anything to do with him.”

“I didn’t…I don’t.  But, he was leaving us food.  I thought I owed it to him to listen to what he had to say.  He gave me this.”  Maura held out a thick, creased envelope.  Jane saw that it bore the presidential seal.

"He said he found it at my house a few days after…” 

Jane looked away at that.  After the earthquake, or shockwave, or whatever it had been had hit, things had been pretty chaotic, and Jane had gone into survival mode immediately.  Her first thought was to get everyone she cared about to safety, and that had included Maura.  She hadn’t allowed Maura to go home, knowing that she would try to bring several suitcases.

And Bass.  Jane didn’t think she’d ever stop feeling guilty about Bass.

Jane unfolded the letter and immediately noticed the presidential seal on the thick, ivory vellum.  Glancing down, she examined the inked signature.  He had signed this himself.  With a glance over at Maura she began to read.

> DEAR DR. ISLES,
> 
> AS YOU UNDOUBTEDLY KNOW BY NOW, WE ARE FACED WITH A CRISIS OF UNPRECEDENTED MAGNITUDE.  AN ASTEROID OF SIGNIFICANT SIZE IMPACTED THE EARTH IN THE OHIO VALLEY FIVE DAYS AGO.  WHILE WE ARE DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN TO STABILIZE OUR CITIES, TO PROVIDE SECURITY AND RESOURCES FOR OUR CITIZENS, DRASTIC MEASURES ARE ALSO NECESSARY FOR OUR SURVIVAL.
> 
> YOU ARE RECEIVING THIS LETTER AS PART OF A COORDINATED EFFORT TO MAKE CERTAIN OUR FUTURE IS, IN SOME MEASURE, ENSURED.  SEVERAL HIGHLY SECURE AND PROVISIONED FACILITIES WERE ESTABLISHED OVER A DECADE AGO BY MY PREDECESSORS, FOR USE IN JUST SUCH A CATASTROPHE.  THEY HAVE BEEN STAFFED AND MAINTAINED IN THE EVENT OF EXACTLY THE CRISIS WITH WHICH WE ARE NOW FACED.   
> 
> IN ORDER FOR US TO EMERGE FROM THIS CRISIS, WE NEED THE HELP OF INDIVIDUALS WITH UNIQUE TALENTS AND SPECIALIZATIONS THAT WILL BE NECESSARY ONCE THE CRISIS HAS DISSIPATED.  AS ONE OF THE PRE-EMINENT FORENSIC PATHOLOGISTS IN THE NATION, YOU WILL HAVE A VITAL ROLE IN SHAPING OUR FUTURE.
> 
> I REGRET THAT I CANNOT EXTEND THIS INVITATION TO YOU IN PERSON, OR IN A MORE PERSONALIZED MANNER. THE ENCLOSED DOCUMENTS PROVIDE FURTHER DETAILS AND INSTRUCTIONS.  I ALSO REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR PARTICIPATION IS NOT VOLUNTARY.  MILITARY PERSONNEL HAVE BEEN SENT TO COLLECT YOU AND  I STRONGLY URGE YOU TO COOPERATE WITH THEM.

Jane stopped reading and looked up at Maura, amazed.  “They sent a letter?  The world ends, and they sent a letter?”

Maura actually laughed a little at that.  “Doyle said there were soldiers there, waiting for me.”

Maura just looked at her, her eyes glistening again with tears.  "The enclosed documents indicated that I could bring someone with me, just one person, provided they were under the age of thirty-five and had an acceptable set of skills.  There's a list."

It was beginning to dawn on Jane what was going on.  She looked at the letter again, then she looked around at all the boxes and supplies.  “Oh my God,” she whispered.

"When Doyle and I spoke, he told me the soldiers told him they’d be in and out of the city collecting supplies for a few weeks, and that if he brought me to them, they’d take me to the facility.  Doyle asked me if I’d go with him.  I told him no.”

That snapped Jane out of her own whirling thoughts.  “What?” she asked.  “Why?  You could’ve been safe.  Why didn’t you go with him?”

“I knew you'd never leave your family behind," Maura said softly.   “And I couldn’t leave you.”




Jane was speechless.  She stared at Maura.  "You could've taken Frankie," she choked out, finally.  "He could've been safe."  

Instead, he'd gotten himself hung from a traffic light as a warning to others about scavenging for food in one of the gang areas.  Jane would never forgive herself for that.

"He wouldn't have left, either," Maura said firmly, shaking her head.   

Jane knew she was right, neither one of them would've left their parents behind.

They sat quietly for several moments, until they heard footsteps.  A young Marine came over to them.  "Is everything all right, Doctor Isles?  Do you need anything?"

"Could we have some water, please?" Maura asked.  He opened the door and handed her two bottles of water.  "Thank you," Maura said.   

"We'll be landing in approximately two hours," he added.  "I'll check on you between now and then."

"You should sip it slowly, Jane," Maura said handing her a bottle.  

"So we're on the way to this facility?" Jane added. When Maura nodded, Jane glared at her.  "You know I'm not staying, right?"

"Your mother said you'd say that," Maura said, handing her another thick envelope. Jane recognized her mother's handwriting.   




"Your mother found the information packet Doyle gave me while she was cleaning up my...area right after we lost Frankie," Maura told her as Jane sat staring at the envelope.  "She confronted me and told me I had to take you.  When I told her that I didn't think you'd go willingly, she informed me that she wasn't going to let that stop her.”

"And you went along with it," Jane said.  She didn't want to sound accusatory, but she was angry, now.  At her mother, at Maura, at everyone.  They had no right to do this.

Maura studied Jane for several minutes.  "I know you're angry," she said.

"Angry doesn't even begin to cover it," Jane said, her voice even and deadly.

"Jane, you have to know, I would have stayed there, with you and your family, until...until the end.  I didn't want to go to this place, and certainly not by myself, knowing the people I care about most are outside, suffering.  So I understand why you are angry, but hear me out, first.  Then, if you're still angry, we’ll find some way to go back to Boston, no matter what it takes."

Jane regarded her for a moment, her mother's letter still clutched in her hands.  "Keep talking," she said, finally.

"After your mother found that letter, she became obsessed," Maura said.  "I realize now I should've destroyed it.  I don’t know why I didn’t.  I told Angela to forget about it, that you wouldn't go, and I wouldn't go without you, and I wouldn't be a party to forcing you.  She wouldn't stop."

Jane knew how that was.  In the best of circumstances, her mother had a bulldogish stubbornness when it came to matters of family, and what she thought was best.  With everything that had happened, Jane realized this was probably how her mother's sorrow over losing Frankie had manifested itself.  Here she had a golden opportunity to make sure one of her children was spared amid the chaos.  In a way, Jane could hardly blame her for becoming obsessed.

“I was pretty adamant, so she stopped talking to me about it eventually,” Maura said.  “Obviously, she continued planning.” 

Jane had a sudden image of walking into a room to a hushed conversation between Maura and her mother, other interrupted conversations between her parents.  More and more, she found her mother and father huddled together, discussing something intently.  But there’d been food and weapons to scavenge, looters and thieves to watch out for, guard duty to arrange, and a million other things that needed to be done.  She’d decided shortly into the ordeal that they couldn’t stay in the city, but getting them all out had proven to be harder than she thought it would be, and the planning for it was consuming her. 

She’d missed all the signs, she realized now.  Her mother had planned this whole thing right under her nose, and she’d been too distracted to see it.

"She drugged me last night, didn't she?"

"Yes, and Jane, I swear I didn't know she was going to do that.  I was terrified when you collapsed, but she assured me it would be all right."

"Wait, if you didn't know anything about it, where'd she get it?"

"Doyle,” she said simply, looking away with a troubled expression on her face.  “She must've found a way to contact him.  She convinced him to help her.  He came in just as I was trying to revive you, and had some of his men take you out to a van he had waiting outside.  Your mother and father gave me that envelope and told me you were going with Doyle one way or the other, and I had a decision to make.  They made me swear to take care of you.  Doyle took us to a military checkpoint and handed us over.  The last thing he said to me was that he would make sure your parents were taken care of, and that I should tell you not to worry about them.”  The words came in a rush, as if Maura was glad to get this all out in the open.  “And that he was sorry about Frankie," she added softly.

Jane sat still for a moment, breathing deeply.  She still felt like crap, but the water was helping. 

“Maura,” she said.  “I can’t leave my parents all alone out there.”

“Do you want some privacy while you read your letter?” she asked, leaning slightly into Jane.

“No,” Jane said.  “I’m not going to read it.”  She held the envelope up and moved to tear it in two, but Maura’s hands shot out and stopped her.

“Don’t,” she said.  “Don’t.  Even if we do go back to Boston, nothing is certain.  You know that.”  She didn’t say Frankie’s name, but they both knew that’s what she was thinking.  “This may be the only part of them you have left.”

They sat there, Maura’s hand over top of Jane’s, while Jane shook.  “What aren’t you telling me, Maura?” she finally asked, her voice thick with tears.  She knew there was one more horrible twist to this story.

“Just read the letter, Jane,” was all she said.  She started to get up, but Jane shifted her hand to grasp one of Maura’s, pressing their palms together.

“Stay,” Jane said.  Maura eased back down until she was leaning against Jane again.

With shaking fingers, Jane slowly opened the envelope.  It was crammed with photographs from her mother’s cherished family albums.  She smiled as she shuffled through them, showing Maura pictures of the tiny village in Italy where her great grandmother had been born, another of her grandparents, a candid of her parents dancing at their wedding, baby pictures of herself, Tommy, and Frankie.  She and her brothers grew older in those photographs, passing from childhood to adolescence across dozens of holidays and family vacations.  Her parents were in many of them, smiling over them.  By the time she reached the end of the pile and found the neatly folded piece of paper, they were both crying.

Jane sat staring at the folded piece of paper, caressing it gently with her thumb.  “I don’t want to read this,” she said.

Without a word, Maura reached over and took it from Jane’s fingers, carefully opened it, and began to read.

> “My darling Janie,
> 
> “Your father and I have been working on this letter for almost two weeks.  Even though I’m doing the writing, this is from the both of us.  We love you so much.  You’ve taken such good care of all of us your whole life, especially these last few months.  You saved us all.”
> 
> “Now it’s time for us to save you.  Your father and I know you well enough to know that your first thought is going to be to come back to Boston, to come back to us.  There is no easy way to tell you this, so we will just say it bluntly, and hope that someday you will understand.”

Maura’s voice faltered here for a moment. 

> “We have lived a good and happy life together,” she continued, her voice choked by emotion.  “We will not be here if you return.  So, you must stay with Maura, to protect her.  When the time comes to rebuild the world, you must be there to help.  They will need you.”
> 
> “We are both so sorry it has to be this way, but we know how stubborn you are.  Your father is telling me I shouldn’t bring that up now, but it’s true.  You are stubborn.  And fierce, and beautiful, and loving, and we are so proud of you.  I should have told you that more often, how proud I am of you.  I’m sorry I didn’t, but I am telling you now and hope it isn’t too late.”
> 
> “Don’t feel sad for us.  We have had a good life.  Parents live on through their children, so we will always live on in you.  We know you will take good care of each other.  We love you both.” 
> 
> “Love, Mommy and Daddy.”

They were both silent for several moments after Maura finished.  Jane dropped the photographs into her lap, and covered her face as she began to weep uncontrollably.  She felt Maura’s arms wrap around her, which just made her cry harder, burying her face deep into Maura’s shoulder.  Maura stroked her hair, not saying anything, simply holding her. 

Finally, tears spent, Jane pulled away and scrubbed at her face.  She couldn’t look at Maura, not yet anyway, so she carefully began to gather up the photographs in her lap, putting them in chronological order and tucking them safely back into the envelope.  She would keep these always, safe and close to her heart. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t let you go home,” she blurted suddenly, still not looking at Maura.  She hadn’t appreciated, until this moment, how important these small pieces of her old life were to her.  “You don’t have anything,” she said, and she felt fresh tears prick her eyes.  “I’m sorry.”

“I have you,” Maura said, simply.

The End


End file.
